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Religion in Gardner exhibit

March 6 – May 31, 2013. Exhibition: Religion in Gardner, Past and Present

This exhibition, Religion in Gardner, will offer local congregations an opportunity toshare their history and ministry in Gardner. The exhibit will show the history of faithcommunities in Gardner since its founding in 1785. In the 228 years since then, faithcommunities have continued to rise from the hearts and spirits of local citizens. These“churches” have grown, split, merged, and dissolved. They have been merged andrelocated. They have addressed varied needs of the community – sacred and secular. Thepeople in these congregations lived out their faith beliefs while aiding Gardner’s rise toits heyday as a manufacturing capital for furniture making. These churches have preparedpeople to work all across the world, and will be instrumental in Gardner’s future in the21st century.

Religion has been an integral part of Gardner’s ethos, both influencing and beinginfluenced as the community has grown and evolved. In the time of the Revolution,petitions sought grants for forming a civic community. These petitions were conditionalon the forming of a faith community. This condition was met when the FirstCongregational Church was founded in February 1786. As prescribed in the laws of theMass Bay Colony and later the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, church attendancewas a moral and a civic duty (including paying taxes to support the town church. –a statue until 1833). Most town centers provided a place that addressed the needs ofthe community: both civic (secular) and religious (sacred). A single building usuallymet these original needs. Though the original building is long gone, the present dayCongregational church gathers in the red-brick building on 28 Green Street that rests onthe land of the original town green. The currents edifice was dedicated in 1879.